Tails Alone

[BaronGrackle]

So. This is a fanfiction based on the "Tails Alone" modes of Sonic 2 and 3&K. I started it in 2010, posting it in the official SEGA forums and fanfiction.net. It was always meant to be three parts, but I only finished the first two. I'll post the second part in about three days (per the forum rules here), then hopefully, with time, I might eventually finish the third. Thanks for reading!

 

Part 1: The Same Adventure

 

 

 

When all alone in my chair, I just go about wishing

I want to be strong, I really want to be trusted

When all alone in my bed, I just go about yearning

I want to be cool,

I also want to be like him . . .

 

When all alone in my sleep, I just go about dreaming

I see myself there, having the same adventure . . .

 

 

Death Egg Zone: Act 2

Above Angel Island, Present Day

 

 

Miles Prower's awkward hop gained speed, and his twin tails rotated instinctively as he leaned forward. He gradually lifted his feet from the ground, removing any friction, allowing pure flight to propel him forward. Just ahead, the infamous Dr. Ivo Robotnik was running for his life.

 

Gotta keep going.

 

Before Miles could catch up, Robotnik ran into a structure beside the platform, slamming the door behind him. The two-tailed fox returned his feet to the ground and braked.

 

"Give it up, old man!" He shouted. "You can't hide in there forever!" It took Miles a moment to realize that the structure was in the shape of a head: the head of the original Eggman, the legendary figure whom Dr. Robotnik had chosen to base his appearance off of. Come to think of it, the machine that Miles had just fought in the previous room was also shaped like Eggman's head. This Robotnik guy was obsessive. "Come out of this thing or I'll tear it apart and DRAG you out!"

 

From the mouth of the giant Eggman structure, a speaker crackled to life. "You fool."

 

The platform Miles stood on began to vibrate. The Eggman-shaped structure was rising. What was it, a rocket? No, a giant robot battle suit. Of course it was a giant robot battle suit. Bigger than the last one.

 

"Away," the speaker crackled again, "before I make mincemeat out of you."

 

Now it was breaking the platform Miles stood on. The two-tailed fox propelled himself onward again, just in time to escape the collapsing floor and reach more stable ground further along the corridor. Braking to another stop, Miles caught his breath. For the first time since entering this area, he had a chance to look around. In the distance, he could see countless stars among the black emptiness of space. He must have been in some enormous, transparent chamber. It surrounded the platform he stood on, which had now begun to quake.

 

FOOM. FOOM. FOOM.

 

Miles pretended not to notice the gigantic, mechanical monstrosity taking steps behind him. He yawned once, idly, before finally turning to face the machine.

 

The speaker roared once more. "Curse you, Miles, pay attention! You have foiled me for the last time!"

 

"I hope so. It'd be nice to finish this once and for all." He looked over his shoulder casually. "Then I can take this rusted offense to technology and salvage it for scrap."

 

"Impudent freak of nature!"

 

"Senile tub of lard!" Miles curled his lips over his fangs in a snarl, and the fur stood on his back as adrenaline rushed through his body. "You're gonna pay for your crimes, Robotnik!"

 

"Puhh. You always were among my more clichéd adversaries."

 

FOOM. FOOM.

 

The giant Eggman suit had stepped closer to the platform Miles stood on, and six enormous fingers hanged precariously over the fox.

 

"You and I both know how this shall end, young cub."

 

Miles leaned slightly forward, preparing to curl up his body. "I have a few ideas. Some of them involve a trial for every bad thing you've done. But most of them involve you freefalling through space."

 

"Feel the wrath of my MALICIOUS FINGERS!"

 

SMASH!

 

Just as the machine's fingers folded around the platform, Miles had flipped straight upward, spinning into the air. To all appearances his body had become a living ball, with only two tails sticking outside it to detract from the image. Miles then fell downward, and his rotating body collided with the mechanical finger directly beneath him. The sound of crunching metal rang sweetly in the fox's ears. The impact bounced him upward—still spinning—until he returned down and collided against the same finger again, producing the same satisfying crunch. Once more Miles rebounded straight upward. As he returned downward this time, however, the giant fingers released the platform and shifted away. The fox unfolded his body and firmly planted his feet back onto the platform. His red-and-white customized sneakers instantly absorbed the shock of the impact, allowing the fox to stand so straight that no one could have imagined he had just landed from being several seconds in the air. The singular act flowed seamlessly; it was a beautiful motion, a deadly ballet. But to Miles, it had become as routine as pushing a button.

 

The machine took another step before bringing its fingers down again. FOOM. SMASH!

 

This time Miles found himself between the two hands. Biting his tongue in concentration, he placed his own gloved hands to the ground so that he was on all fours. With a practiced movement, he formed his body into ball shape again and rapidly rotated in place—a technique known as the spin dash. He could continue spinning in place for minutes, but instead he shot forward, ricocheting back and forth between two of the robotic fingers. One of the fingers soon shattered in a tiny, fiery explosion. When Miles bounced back toward it, he spun straight through the few remaining embers to crash into the next clamped finger on the giant hand. He rolled back and forth until the fingers released the platform again, causing him to spin past his target and continue several feet down the platform. Slightly miffed, Miles uncurled himself and hopped back closer to Robotnik's machine.

 

The speaker came to life again. "Where in the world did you come from?" Robotnik asked, sounding more awestruck than annoyed.

 

Miles stood with his back to the towering machine, as if he had dismissed it as a threat altogether. He glanced upward indifferently, catching the tip of another finger that loomed over him from above and behind. "A place where we make our machines out of something stronger than tin foil!"

 

"It is not tin foil, you imbecile!"

 

Miles lay down on his stomach, his face staring forward—across the platform, not back at the machine threatening him. "Yeah? Seriously, do your thing again. I wanna show you something."

 

SMASH! Obligingly, the fingers came down again.

 

Before they landed, Miles had curled up into another spin dash. The giant finger that fell upon him bent as it came into contact. Miles continued spinning in place, revving even faster. The finger bent further, and with a metallic groan it tore completely off and shattered. More tiny, harmless embers fell upon Miles's fur coat like red-orange confetti. The fox released his spin dash just as the surviving fingers released the platform once more. After braking himself, Miles hopped back toward the battle with a disapproving shake of his head.

 

"You see? It came down right on top of my spin dash, and I didn't get a scratch on me! If I'd tried that on your giant hand from the Lava Reef earlier, I'd've been crushed! Your work's getting sloppier, Robotnik. Maybe it's time you just gave up."

 

"And maybe it is time you just got crushed!"

 

Miles shrugged. "If you were any good at this, I probably would be already!"

 

As Robotnik continued trying to pummel Miles Prower, his rage gave way to curiosity once more. "How did you ever learn to fight like that?"

 

Miles was still leaping and spinning, but he allowed himself a chuckle. "Are you kidding? I've studied the Legend of Sonic the Hedgehog my entire life! I know every technique of unarmed, anti-mechanical combat!"

 

"The what?"

 

"Kinda appropriate, huh?"

 

"What do you mean, 'Legend of Sonic the Hedgehog?'"

 

Miles snorted in disgust. "Look, don't play dumb, Doctor. You know what legend I'm talking about. The blue hedgehog hero? About five thousand years ago? Your entire badguy gimmick is shaped around it. I've already broken two robots you built to look and act like Sonic the Hedgehog. And this giant dumb finger-bot thing, this whole "Death Egg" ship of yours, they all have the face of EGGMAN—the villain of the story. I mean, you even have the same haircut as the guy! So don't try to tell me you don't know the Legend!"

 

Soon after Miles had finished answering, all of the fingers on the giant machine had been destroyed. Robotnik and his giant robot stood still for a moment; the mad scientist was working something out in his head. "Five thousand years ago, you say? Hmm… really. So is that how it has all played out? How very intriguing. Ha. How very interesting, indeed!"

 

"Quit stalling, Robotnik!" Miles shouted confidently. "You're beaten. Now come out. That thing looks kind of inflammable, and I'm guessing you don't want to die when I explode it all up, do you?"

 

For a brief moment, Miles actually thought that he HAD managed to break the mecha. It dropped downward, below the platform and out of his sight. Immediately after that, however, it rose upward, now beside the platform. Then it began walking.

 

FOOM. FOOM. A moment ago, the great echoing steps had only been ominous. Now they were dangerous—each step the machine took was destroying a section of the platform that Miles stood on. The fox ran in the opposite direction; he did not have to move very fast, but he did have to keep moving. Robotnik's cackling laughter could be heard through his speaker. He sounded somehow proud about something, something completely unrelated to the present chase.

 

"What if I told you that I AM the Eggman from the Legend you describe?"

 

"I'd say you're insane! Well, you know... more insane! Because that's impossible!"

 

"The clever little fox thinks he is all-knowing, hmm?" The giant machine spat a ball of flame out of its nose as it continued to pursue Miles.

 

Miles dexterously flipped over the flame. Normally he'd make a joke about the doctor's choice of weaponry, but right now he was trying to make a point. So instead he yelled, "Five thousand years, Robotnik? Really? Because you don't look a day over THREE thousand."

 

Through the speaker, Robotnik's laughter was louder now. "Ah, but who said I lived through all that time? Just content yourself to know, you preposterous mutant, that your 'legendary' Sonic the Hedgehog was outsmarted 5000 years ago, he was outsmarted 1 year ago, and when he returns 5000 years from now, he shall discover that he has been outsmarted again! Too speedy for his own good, I say. Ha! BWA-HA-HA-HA!"

 

Miles reflected on these words for a moment, leaping over another nose-flame as he continued fleeing the charging machine. Finally, he shook his head. "So all this Eggman stuff, it's not just because of some legend you like? It's really all about you? If that's true, then you're not just a weirdo. You're an eggomaniac!"

 

Robotnik sounded pestered. "It's pronounced EGOmaniac, you dolt! Not EGGOmaniac!"

 

"Whatever. But look, it still doesn't make sense. If you really are the Eggman, and Sonic the Hedgehog really is your mortal enemy... then why did you make those Sonic robots?" Miles distinctly remembered the challenge he faced during the Death Egg's first flight, as he was pitted against that silver version of Sonic. He also remembered his more recent combat against that other mechanized Sonic—not quite as challenging, but still intense—in the heights of Sky Sanctuary.

 

He could not see Robotnik shrug, but he could hear it in the doctor's answer. "I do hate that hedgehog, but he has provided a most excellent biological template. My elite machine warriors are designed to perform near perfection in single combat. So naturally, I have modeled them off of that creature!"

 

Miles was getting tired. Fortunately, he wasn't about to fall down a chasm—this platform seemed to go on forever—but his ribs were throbbing painfully. He still had one ace up his sleeve. It was a power he had recently learned. Miles closed his eyes as he ran onward.

 

Emeralds, empower me.

Rings, ready me.

Flickies, fortify me.

 

"Well, Robotnik," Miles began, leaping into the air, over another ball of flame, "maybe you should have modeled them off of ME."

 

Before he landed from his leap, Miles uncurled his body and screamed—a scream that drew from every fiber of his being. The fox's body took on a mysterious white glow. And, just as had happened before, he found himself flanked by four golden avian creatures. Super Flickies, he had called them.

 

Miles leaned forward and spun his tails, taking to the air himself. He turned toward Robotnik, staring at the machine's jet black eyeplates, through which the doctor was undoubtedly returning the stare in shock. His voice echoed as he addressed the doctor: "Open your machine. Hand over the Master Emerald."

 

Robotnik began to sputter. "B-but... how did you know it was here in my machine?"

 

"Because you just told me, egg boy!" Miles blinked, and the Super Flickies knew their objective. The first slammed into the machine's hull. It dropped open, revealing the Master Emerald. The second, third, and fourth Flicky swarmed the exposed container, tearing at it effortlessly as if they were ripping open the shell of a giant sunflower seed.

 

"ENOUGH GAMES!" Robotnik shouted. The doctor had begun charging his primary weapon as soon as the hull panel dropped. Within seconds, it fired a greenish-blue beam directly into Miles and the surrounding Flickies.

 

When the beam cleared, however, the five fliers remained. They had not suffered so much as a scratch. Miles's smirk carried ice, and his distinctive canines were again visible. "No more games," he agreed.

 

Robotnik's giant mecha continued marching against the platform. It continued firing beams and flames. But inside the cockpit, the doctor was in a state of panic. How had that cursed fox managed to turn himself invincible? And likewise, these vile little invincible pigeons; where had they come from? The blasted hedgehog hadn't been able to do anything like that before. All of these thoughts raced through Robotnik's head, until one of those vile little birds pulled apart the Master Emerald's energy converter.

 

A chain of explosions resounded throughout the giant Eggman machine. They continued going off in flames, even as the giant's metallic legs gave out and sent it crashing to the ground.

 

The flying fox's body ceased its glowing, and he landed on the now-stable platform. Miles did not notice the four blue Flickies leaving the scene; he was too distracted. Robotnik's giant robot was crashing.

 

The enormous mecha sank below the platform, resembling the manner in which a wrecked ocean liner might sink beneath the sea. Miles's gaze followed its descent. Somewhere, (Miles had no idea how many stories below), the great machine had been standing on something, some type of ground built into the interior of the Death Egg. And now, unless Miles had missed his guess, the sheer mass and force of the machine's fall had shattered that ground. Yes, as his ears perked upward with attentiveness, he could hear the telltale sounds of ruptured metal. His eyes squinted to follow the trail of vibrations, but even his keen vision made out little more than darkness so far below, darkness tempered with the sporadic lights of fresh explosions.

 

A small chunk of metal slammed into the platform, landing right beside Miles, and bounced off as it continued to fall. It startled the fox and caused him to hop backward—not that it mattered at that point—before his eyes raised toward the ceiling to see what he already knew. The explosions had spread to the ceiling of the chamber, and multiple other chunks of debris were now plummeting downward past Miles.

 

Between the collapsing ground and the caving ceiling, the endless sea of stars and space began to crack; the glass viewport walls surrounding the room were on the verge of coming apart. If Miles had been the cursing type...

 

"Oh, Robotnik. You stupid, stupid man." As Miles watched further cracks in the glass develop, he could hear the characteristic hum of Robotnik's spherical-shaped personal transport craft as it rose behind him. Robotnik always had that craft of his ready; the only thing he seemed really good at was escaping alive from his numerous failures. Through the uproar of intensifying explosions, Miles continued to shout with his back turned to the doctor. "What did you make this viewport wall out of? Ordinary glass?"

 

"It is NOT ordinary glass, you flippant fox! It is reinforced, unbreakable..."

 

"Well, now it's de-unbreakable! I should've just stayed on the island, and this 'Death Trap' of yours would've crashed on its own anyway!"

 

"Do not presume to lecture me, you meddling boy! I have an I.Q. of 300!"

 

"Yeah? Well I would've expected one of those standardized tests you took to have a question or two about basic physics!" Miles finally turned around, facing the doctor in livid fury, "About what happens when you try to walk around in a giant, highly dense machine, inside an arguably less dense support structure, which so happens to be suspended within the incredible pressure of space, no less, and all apparently within short range of the power source that keeps this support structure functioning! Because, you know, that sounds like something an idiot CHILD would dream up after eating too much candy. You stupid, STUPID old hack!"

 

Miles noticed that his voice had instinctively been getting louder; he had been trying to shout over the growing noise of a crashing space station, but the Death Egg was in its final death throes. A piece of debris bounced off the hull of Robotnik's escape craft, shaking it a bit in the air. With sweat pouring from his pointed bands of mustache hair, Robotnik pulled one of his levers and zoomed past Miles.

 

Miles leapt into the air, curled into a spinning ball, and slammed his body into the escape craft as it flew past.

 

"STOP, YOU FOOL!" Robotnik screamed, his voice betraying fright.

 

"Before you make mincemeat out of me?"

 

A new set of explosions began under Miles's feet. As had happened before, the platform was collapsing beneath Miles. The fox ran onward to keep ahead of the falling ground, he and Robotnik's escape craft keeping equal pace with each other. "If I were the fool, you wouldn't be the one worried right now!" he taunted.

 

As the craft kept flying him toward safety, Robotnik shook his head. "You are the fool BECAUSE you are not worried right now! You are putting forth all of your effort to destroy the very vessel that is keeping you from being sucked into space!"

 

The doctor did have a point, but that didn't faze Miles. Still running onward, the fox's eyes finally noticed the large object that was being gripped by Robotnik's craft. Through his heavy pants, Miles allowed himself a sigh of relief. "Well," he addressed Robotnik in a level voice, "at least you haven't lost the Master Emerald." With that, he jumped and smashed into one of the craft's hazard lights.

 

"NO!" Robotnik shouted in surprise. "You are slowing us both down, and the Death Egg is exploding! Have you not ever heard of the scorpion and the frog?!"

 

"Yeah, I know that story. The scorpion's riding the frog across water, the scorpion stings him, and they both drown, right?" Still running, Miles somersaulted his body into the escape craft again. The impact slowed Miles down, nearly causing him to fall behind and down the breaking platform.

 

"IDIOT! YOU'LL KILL US BOTH!"

 

"No I won't. THIS scorpion knows how to swim. So I'm just gonna finish you off right now, okay?" Miles hit the craft again, bending its exhaust port. The dented contraption started to vibrate, but Robotnik managed to resteady its flight.

 

"Please!" Robotnik yelled. "Please... just let me get out of here!"

 

"Sure! Drop the Emerald!"

 

"NEVER!"

 

"Then here we are!" This time Miles slammed into the craft from almost directly beneath it, reshaping the hull and straining the clamp that held the Master Emerald. When Miles landed, however, the crumbling platform had nearly caught up with him. He sprinted forward, leaning to gain momentum, but the floor had already disappeared from his feet.

 

Gotta keep going.

 

The steady buzz of a propeller. It was directly behind Miles now, powering him for the instant he was suspended in air. When he finally caught up with the platform again, he thought about putting his feet back on the solid ground. He thought about it. But instead, he decided to let them keep trailing along air. Yes. Ground was nice to have—but he did not need it. Instead of returning his legs downward, Miles allowed them to fall behind, then further behind, then over his head—spinning straight into Robotnik's exhaust jet again. Curiously, this resulted in the exhaust flame growing brighter.

 

"NO! NO! MY BRAKES!"

 

Miles hit the craft again, causing a stream of petroleum to spill from its wound. If Miles had calculated correctly, it would just take one more well-placed strike...

 

The crane on Robotnik's shuttle tore off, and the Master Emerald dropped neatly on the platform ahead of Miles.

 

Robotnik's face burned bright red, undoubtedly from a combination of his panic and the physical heat of the fires that were now engulfing his machine. Similarly, the doctor's desire to live combined with his hovercraft's inability to brake, both realities shooting him toward the nearest escape hatch. "I HAATE THAT FOXXX!!!!" his voice echoed back.

 

Miles looked to the escape hatch, and then he looked to the Master Emerald. The chamber had become brilliantly illuminated... and the Death Egg heaved its final breath.

 

Miles. Take it.

 

As Miles wrapped his arms around the Master Emerald, the light of a dying star enveloped them both. For a single heartbeat, it seemed as if Miles and the Emerald were the only things in the world that were not glowing...

 

Then, at the next heartbeat, everything in the world had suddenly stopped glowing... except Miles and the Emerald.

 

Pulsing with the same brilliant aura he had before, Miles heaved the Master Emerald through a controlled descent. They glided into the atmosphere and through the stratosphere, with only the steady buzz of his two-tailed propeller behind them. But... did that propeller seem louder than it should?

 

Yes, there it was. The Sonic Tornado, right on schedule. Miles altered his course to come in right above the biplane. Once he was precisely over the plane's wing platform, he released the Master Emerald and barked a command: "Activate Gem Carrier!" A hatch on the Sonic Tornado's tail opened, and a metallic cable unraveled. A small click and a sharp tug later, the Master Emerald was attached to the gem carrier as firmly as metal sticks to a magnet. It was an invention Miles was particularly proud of, modified to the Sonic Tornado after being tested on actual Chaos Emeralds. And now, it was a lifesaver.

 

"Hey, speaking of lifesavers," Miles smirked toward the pilot's seat, "you were right on time again, Sonic Doll! What would I do without you?" The autopilot did not answer—it just stared blankly forward as it always did. Sonic Doll was another of Miles's favorite inventions. The machine's head was crafted to look exactly like the legendary Sonic the Hedgehog, who had been Miles's idol since as far back as the two-tailed fox could remember. There was no body of course; the head was directly attached to the Sonic Tornado, and it served as the plane's automatic pilot. Miles always made sure to set the pilot on "Patrol Mode" whenever he went on dangerous adventures; this was in fact the second time that doing so had saved his life. And strangely enough, both times involved him falling from a destroyed Death Egg.

 

Miles often joked that Sonic Doll was the most cool-headed pilot in the world. Most pilots—including Miles—would fidget when flying a plane. They would look left, look right, and look upward, checking their surroundings. But Sonic Doll, not being a living creature, managed to keep its head staring straight forward without expression or movement, even through the most perilous of flights. That's how machines worked.

 

To Miles, the plane's wing felt as secure as any terra firma. It was all finally over. The fox chuckled to himself, primarily out of exhaustion and relief. Turning toward the Sonic Doll, he smiled and remarked, "All's well that ends well, right?"

 

* * *

 

Miles was eager to leave the Floating Island behind him. Still, as he returned to the Sonic Tornado, he noticed that the surrounding grass was already starting to regrow, recovering from the relentless firebombing it had suffered a few days ago. That was good. "Start Engines," he commanded, spin-jumping back onto the primary wing of his biplane.

 

But as the engines gained power, Miles saw a small Cucky flutter his way. The fox smiled at the tiny chicken. "Engines Off!" he shouted to the Sonic Doll, causing the roaring plane to hiccup and die as Miles dropped back to the ground. The fox ducked down and peered forward, allowing himself to address the small animal at its own height. "Hey there, buddy. You don't have to worry about that Robotnik guy anymore. Your island's safe."

 

The Cucky hopped frantically and clucked something in response.

 

Miles pointed to the plateau, back where he had set the Master Emerald. "He'll find it over there. Tell him that the Death Egg's destroyed, and Robotnik's gone now. But tell him to keep his eyes open, you know? Just in case any of those Eggman's robots are still around."

 

To this, the Cucky turned to follow the direction Miles had pointed. It then sat in silence, processing the information in its tiny chicken brain. After a couple of seconds, it clucked another brief sentence.

 

"No. You can tell him." Absentmindedly, Miles rubbed the bruise on his chin. Knuckles had clipped him with a spin attack early in that fight. It was the only real hit the echidna had got off him, of course. Miles had managed to floor the islander in seconds. That was another reason Miles wished to skip the farewells—despite their impromptu alliance, Knuckles had not even been able to look him straight in the face back at Sky Sanctuary. It was probably a little jarring to his pride to get beaten so badly by an 8-year-old. Even a "supernaturally mature" 8-year-old such as Miles.

 

Hmm. Where had Knuckles learned to spin attack and spin dash? Had the echidna civilization known about the Legend of Sonic the Hedgehog too? Well, they obviously hadn't studied it well enough.

 

The Cucky made another uncertain noise.

 

Miles pet the animal's cockscomb reassuringly. "I know you can do it, little guy. Besides, he needs to learn to listen to you and the others. If he had listened to you at the very beginning, well, a lot of this mess probably wouldn't have happened. And he knows that now." Miles had trouble hiding the resentment in his voice. Most of him knew that the confusion was not really Knuckles's fault. Most of him knew it.

 

After another couple of seconds, the Cucky nodded once.

 

"Great. Your guardian is a good person, you know? Just a little hard-headed. But he'll take care of you. I know he will." Miles did believe that Knuckles was a good person, but he still did not especially care to spend much more time around him. The two of them were just completely different types of people, so it was best for them to quietly go their separate ways. With a final wave to the Cucky, Miles flew back to the plane's wing. "Start Engines," he ordered again. Within seconds, the Sonic Tornado had taken off.

 

Behind him, the island had already begun to rise from the ocean. The return of the Master Emerald and all the Chaos Emeralds had allowed Floating Island to finally retake its rightful place in the sky. Miles nodded to himself. Somehow, it had all come out as a complete success. But everything did not yet feel right.

 

"Who are you?" he asked quietly. There was no response at first. But, Miles was a patient individual. He waited, gazing silently across the distant, beautiful sky. The silence continued for a little over two minutes. All the while, Miles stood on the wing of the Sonic Tornado, maintaining a penetrating stare. He waited for an answer.

 

We are the ancient ones.

 

The left edge of Miles's mouth curled in a half-smile. That did not tell him much information. Almost everyone was ancient compared to him. "Who are you?" he repeated.

 

We have watched you your entire life, Miles Prower.

 

Okay, that was a little spooky. Miles swallowed a bit. Again, he waited in silence for several more seconds. His question had not yet been answered.

 

I am Flicky.

 

Miles nodded. "The Flicky birds. The… the Super Flickies, right?"

 

There were a few more seconds of silence. For a reason he could not quite explain, Miles felt uncomfortable, as if his response had been insulting. "You were the ones who came to me those times just now, after the Chaos Emeralds got brought back."

 

The Chaos Emeralds were not simply brought back, Miles Prower. You returned them. You awakened their true power. You transformed them. That is one of the reasons why we came to you.

 

Miles tilted his head attentively. Was that voice inside his head, or did it come from somewhere else? "I… I can't see you right now. But you were here with me. A few times I saw you, and you looked like super-powered Flickies. And you just said that you're Flicky birds, right?"

 

We are the Flicky Ancients. But I, I am not a mere Flicky bird. I am Flicky.

 

At first, Miles did not understand. Only gradually did it all dawn on him. "Whoa. You mean… you mean, Flicky? The actual Flicky?"

 

Yes.

 

Miles jostled himself slightly. "This is making my head spin…"

 

Miles Prower, we have known you since you were born. We watched you grow. We saw your parents pass from this world.

 

The fox's eyes fell toward the blue waves below him. He watched the water pass, speeding by as the Sonic Tornado continued its flight from the Floating Island.

 

With pride, we saw you save our children from the Battle Kukku, our enemies from beyond time. With that action, Miles, and with your recent deliverance of the Floating Island, you have marked yourself. You are, now and perpetually, the Champion of the Flickies.

 

The fox shook his head, not to deny this assertion, but as a method of taking it all in. Dazedly, he began to chuckle softly.

 

What is comical to you?

 

Flicky sounded confused, and Miles didn't blame her. "No, it's nothing. It's just… wow." He kept shaking his head. Then, he sighed. "I gotta get a hold of my life."

 

More silence. Then, the voice returned. Where are you going, Miles?

 

Miles considered. He did not need long to decide. "I'm going to find out if Robotnik was telling the truth. I need to know if he… if he is really the Eggman. Because if he is… if he's Eggman… if Eggman's still alive, then…"

 

Then perhaps Sonic the Hedgehog is. And perhaps you shall be able to find him.

 

"Yes." Miles had not been able to say the words himself. But that was exactly his hope. "And you know, if I'd heard myself say something like that earlier today, I'd know I was insane. But that Robotnik really WAS the same guy as Eggman, wasn't he? And you... you're Flicky! If this is all real... then why can't Sonic be real, too? I just... I have to find out for sure. I have to go to where it all began.

 

And where did it all begin?

 

Idly, Miles looked down toward the waters again. When a dolphin surfaced beneath the biplane, he nearly lost his balance. "Whoa!"

 

Indeed, a pod of dolphins had been following the Sonic Tornado from the moment it left the Floating Island. Miles glanced behind him to discover that a flock of silvery gulls had also been flying behind. They probably should not have been this far away from land.

 

"It is him! He's the one who did it!" exclaimed the dolphin who had just leapt under Miles.

 

"It IS Miles Prower?! I was by the island when it started to rise! I couldn't believe it!" another answered.

 

"I saw that big mustache ball explode! It was like a brand new sun in the sky!" one of the gulls chimed in.

 

"I saw it too! And he was flying with that big emerald, and he was flying like this!" a younger gull cheeped, proceeding to fly in a zigzag pattern that he imagined looked an awful lot like the way he had seen the two-tailed fox fly.

 

"It was amazing, Mr. Prower!"

 

"He's not Mr. Prower! He's SUPER PROWER!"

 

"He used his super prowers to fly? Is that why he doesn't need wings?"

 

"He used his tails! His tails let him fly better than wings!" The gull who contributed this remark tried to shake his tailfeathers vigorously, but this actually caused him to drop down a bit.

 

"Mr. Super Prower, how high did you go?!"

 

"He flew high! I couldn't even see him at the top!"

 

"I bet he went as high as outer space!" cried a baby dolphin, leaping out of the sea to what was surely a considerable height for such a small animal, before splashing back into the water.

 

"I bet he went high enough to reach the HIGHEST OF ALL THE HEAVENS!" The gull who said this flew above his flock, spinning in a 360 degree loop before returning to formation.

 

Another young gull's eyes widened with awe. "Did you REALLY go that high, Mr. Super Prower?!"

 

Miles was grinning from ear to ear, but he had to turn away from the crowd to keep his blush from showing. "Miles. It's just Miles, guys."

 

"But DID you go that high, Mr. Miles?!"

 

"Show us how you flew, Mr. Miles! Come fly for us!"

 

"Yeah! Come fly for us!"

 

"Fly for us! PLEASE fly for us!"

 

Miles leaned down, chuckling self-consciously as all the gulls and dolphins chattered for him. It was really kind of embarrassing. He hadn't done that much, after all. He was just another creature, just another person, no different from any of them.

 

Fly for them, Miles.

 

Miles turned away from the crowd and smiled. He whispered back to the voice, "You're the ones who helped me do all this. Come out and show them who you are."

 

"PLEASE, Mr. Miles!"

 

"Please please show us, Mr. Miles!

 

They are calling for you, Miles. Fly with them.

 

The fox sighed in good-natured resignation. Then, with a great bound, he backflipped off the Sonic Tornado. In the past few times, he had transformed through a determined scream. This time, it was a joyful shout, a shout filled with the energy and desire to give whatever was needed from him. As it had before, Miles's body took on a glowing white hue, and his twin tails propelled him to the midst of the gulls. The dolphins leapt past him, to his left and his right, in pure delight. The gulls instinctively fell into a new formation, a V-shape for victory, with Miles himself pushed to the intersection and the lead. Each of them knew that, years from now, they would be able to tell their children and grandchildren that they had flown with the greatest hero of their age: the one and only Miles "Super" Prower.

 

The smile never left Miles's face. And, perhaps for the first time in the past few days, he remembered why it had been so important to stop that man named Robotnik. That man named Eggman.

 

Where are you going, Miles?

 

With a remembered determination, the fox's grin leveled out. "To where it all began. I'm going to Never Lake."

[BaronGrackle]

Editing on this type of forum gives me fits, sadly. The original html I typed for centering and bold was applied, but it seems that some font size changed and the entire chapter has been centered, with no obvious way for me to correct it. Apologies.

 

Part 2: Mobius Strip

 

If I just follow you, I will never see the light

Now is the time to find my way through this life

 

I'm trying so hard to be strong . . .

 

 

Two Days Later

 

A few kilometers away from Never Lake, there stood a wide area of prairie land, flanked by various plateaus and small mountains. The grass was a very light, dull green. And on this particular day, the shadows of three fat clouds stretched lazily upon the landscape.

 

Regardless, anyone standing at this vantage would probably not pay much notice to the ordinary clouds or their shadows. They would look instead to the sudden trail of dust in the distance, rising and falling along the horizon in wavelengths. The dust trail shot up and down, from east to west, until it made a sharp turn to the north. And then, anyone standing at that northern vantage would have stopped noticing the dust trails, as their creator was now running toward Never Lake itself.

 

Of course, "running" could only be a metaphorical description of the orange blur.

 

Miles Prower leaned forward almost perilously, creating an appearance not unlike that of a missile. The comparison was especially apt considering he was literally in flight. This was thanks, of course, to the fox’s two tails — which rotated behind him, one parallel to the other, and propelled him forward.

 

He zoomed straightway for a couple of kilometers, then turned left to pass between some cliffsides, at which point he intersected a paved road that turned in on itself. Through a forest, where he passed beneath a large tree branch that hooked downward, nearly touching the ground. As he darted through the circle created by the tree, its branch, and the ground, Miles felt the strangest urge to run along this makeshift loop over and over again, just because it was there. But that thought remained somewhere in the back of his mind; instead, he dashed on.

 

Shooting out of the forest, Miles found himself within a rocky, relatively deep valley. Again he resisted the urge to bound about the halfpipes created by this valley, instead flying upward and out of the pit. Then it was between a number of shorter, yet still rocky, plateaus. Then through a narrow tunnel (of which Miles had been briefly tempted to run across the ceiling) before blasting out into daylight and grassy, rocky land again.

 

After another kilometer or so, the land dropped off suddenly. Miles ignored it, darting at the same level of height he had been at when the ground was beneath him; after all, with his two tails, what did he need the ground for? The orange missile sped over the top of a tall, thin rock projection, pushing his foot off it for momentum as he passed. Then another. And then he flew straight between several other projections, though a part of him wished to instead bounce from one to the other. After a bit of time, though, exhaustion caught up with the fox; he had to touch down on one of the rocky projections and catch his breath. His tongue had been hanging out of his mouth for a while now.

 

Using his right hand to shield the sun away, Miles gazed ahead. How much farther was the lake?

 

Once his panting had slowed down, Miles dropped to the earth and continued running. When he came to a river at the foot of a small canyon, he plunged in. Yes, he needed that. The water felt wonderful.

 

Miles took a moment to enjoy a somersault (flipping his body had always been easier and more enjoyable underwater) before he swam to the surface. Some people had joked about his dog paddle, but to Miles, it was one of the most efficient ways to swim he had seen. His tails began spinning immediately after he breeched the surface, flying him to the top of the canyon above.

 

On he ran, shaking a small cluster of trees as he passed. Propelling his body onward along a downward slope, until something unexpected caught his eye. He stopped in his tracks; an eyebrow rose, and his mouth formed into a circular shape of wonder.

 

"The stories..." Miles stopped to breathe. He hadn’t realized how hard he had been panting again. "The stories didn’t talk about a chain."

 

There was no chain before. It is recent.

 

Miles closed his eyes, trying to focus on one of the beings he could not see. "Robotnik? He came here?"

 

He came from here. This chain was constructed before you met the doctor.

 

Normally, remembering his first meeting with Dr. Robotnik would have brought a smile to Miles’s face. That drilling vehicle – it had been so remarkably ridiculous. But now, his mind was distracted by a torrent of questions. "Dr. Robotnik told me he’s the same person as the Eggman. But the Eggman is a legend. And even if Eggman was real, then he lived thousands of years ago. So was Robotnik lying?"

 

Miles waited for a moment. He opened his eyes. The huge metal chain was still dancing in the distance. A pile of rock debris lay at his feet — perhaps fallen long ago, from the wild swingings of the massive chain? Miles waited. Silence.

 

"Please. I just wanna know what’s going on. I’m tired of not understanding any of this." Miles’s voice began to crack as he spoke the last few words.

 

Gotta keep going.

 

Fine. Miles leapt toward a nearby landform, spinning his body into an orb. He hit the mount running upward, and when gravity started to have its way, his tails took over. Miles flew up the mountain like a rocket, overshooting the apex a bit on purpose, then planting his feet firmly on the mountain’s tip.

 

At least, Mile thought it was some kind of mountain. It was incredibly long and thin, reminding him of stalagmites he had once seen in caves. Only this one, of course, was enormous. And it gave him a perfect view of the Little Planet.

 

"I always wanted to come here. I always wanted to know if it was real."

 

It was. A great mass of land, suspended above Never Lake. The effect might have been more astounding if Miles had not already seen the floating Angel Island. Even as it was, though, the sight was breathtaking. That great mass of land, that "Little Planet", seemed as if it longed to hover idly into the cosmos. Preventing it was that enormous metal chain, pulled taut from the Little Planet’s efforts to escape. The scene resembled the struggle between a helium balloon and its string.

 

Miles frowned. "The stories said it goes away and comes back every year. How’s that happen now?"

 

The answer is simple. It does not happen now.

 

The fox shook his head. "That’s not simple. It probably messes up a bunch of stuff."

 

Agreed. There are reasons I did not object to you coming here.

 

"I actually thought you were trying to keep me away. Why did I have to send the Sonic Tornado back to Angel Island on patrol mode?"

 

It was needed.

 

Miles turned his head suspiciously. "Is it something about Knuckles? Is he okay?"

 

The echidna Guardian is capable of defending his island. All shall be well. In any case, it is unwise to attempt landing on the Little Planet in an aircraft vehicle.

 

"Hmm." As Miles studied the distant Little Planet, it seemed to flicker, as if it had blinked out of existence for a split second. It truly seemed to be the beautiful, mysterious place he had always heard about.

 

He jumped from the immense peak, curling his body inward, spinning. Falling, spinning, waiting. Waiting for just the moment . . . release. A breeze had caught his two tails, signaling just the right moment to uncurl. His tails rotated in motion with the breeze, then faster. Even now, in the midst of all the anxiety Miles had been feeling, flight managed to relax him. Arms and legs hanged limply, the whole of his body supported by those two spinning appendages. Even the gentle, propeller-like buzz had a way of calming his nerves. In a few more years, Miles would start to wonder how the physics and biology of it all worked. For now, though, he took it for granted. There were more important questions to answer.

 

He could already see the perfect landing spot.

 

 

Palmtree Panic: Zone 2

The Little Planet

 

 

There was something almost prehistoric about this part of the Little Planet. 

 

As Miles's sneakers touched down, they crunched softly against a cluster of fallen ferns. Healthier examples hung limply nearby, overshadowed by great palms stretching skyward. Interspersed among them were enormous, crystal waterfalls spilling into equally clear lakes below. Sure, it was breathtaking. Was it more breathtaking than the falls and fauna of West Side Island? Miles could not quite say.

 

The planet rumbled, ever so slightly.

 

There was a rustle in one of the living ferns. From the corner of his eye, Miles caught a tiny figure dash from behind its green cover, leap upon the trunk of a nearby palm tree, and race to the leaves above. The two-tailed fox raised his eyebrows. "A Ricky squirrel?"

 

Several groundlings are nearby. Some of my children are also here. They are no doubt observing you, the strange newcomer.

 

"Huh. I don't wanna scare them."

 

And they will discover as much in due time. Do not deny them their hesitancy. The natives here have a mixed history with outsiders, as you are surely well aware.

 

It was all part of the legend, of course. Supposedly, during those ancient times, a cold-hearted blue hedgehog had imprisoned the creatures of the Little Planet. Calling himself Sonic the Hedgehog, he declared that all living creatures had become slaves of himself and his master, the Eggman. But this hedgehog was the false Sonic. The true Sonic arrived shortly thereafter, released the animals from their prison, and promptly disappeared. The bulk of the Sonic legend was centered on this singular event; the rest was based on future prophecy.

 

"Guess they're not used to people. I'm probably the first they've seen in years, huh?"

 

Again, Flicky hesitated before answering.

 

Listen.

 

Miles was listening. In fact, the command was slightly insulting--he felt that he always listened, always observed. It was one of the few abilities that he actually recognized in himself. He listened, but this disembodied voice, he found, rarely gave proper answers. "I've been listeni--"

 

Stop talking.

 

And then, he heard the girl. Singing, somewhere among the trees ahead. Carefully, quietly, Miles treaded through the foliage. Yes, she must have been up ahead, in the clearing. She was belting that tune with all of her lungs, yet somehow it still came out sweetly. And now, as he stepped closer, he could recognize the melody. 

 

It shot forth in quick, decisive rhythmic beats that he had not heard in a while, a tune rarely sung unless a jumprope was involved. Preferably with a playground crowd, clapping on each beat.

 

"Flicky bird, Flicky bird, where are you flying?

To save my poor Chirps, I can hear them crying,

Flicky bird, Flicky bird, why do they cry?

'Cause Tiger and Iggy are hungry, that's why,

Flicky bird, Flicky bird, what happens then?

I take 'em to my nest and count them again:

ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN

Seven little Chirps are safe in the nest,

Better go back and find all the rest,

Flicky bird, Flicky bird, where are you flying?

To save my poor Chirps, I can hear them crying . . ."

 

She had not gotten very far in the song. And now, coming to the beginnings of a clearing, he could see her. She was a hedgehog.

 

Though he could only see her back from this vantage, Miles could not mistake the pink, hedgehog quills. The girl's focus was on some sort of table in front of her, gloved hands manipulating a set of small objects as her blue-and-white sneakers bounced the rest of her body in rhythm to the song. Like most females, she wore extra clothing for the sake of style--Miles spotted a red headband that curved the girl's quills down and back, while her body was adorned in a green shirt and light-red miniskirt. It was a fashion that had been popular during the last decade.

 

". . . FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT

Eight little Chirps are safe in the nest,

Better go back and . . ."

 

Suddenly, the singing stopped. She turned, and Miles saw dark black eyes, wide with uncertainty and caution. Almost immediately, they rounded off with relief. "Oh!" the hedgehog shouted. She waved to Miles, then proceeded to gesture toward herself, in a welcoming motion. "Hi! Come 'ere, come 'ere! Come in front!"

 

In front, it seems, was referring to a square card table the girl had been standing behind. As Miles came into the clearing and walked around so that he was facing her, he could see that the small objects she had been manipulating were some sort of playing cards. She was shuffling them attentively.

 

"Hi," Miles said flatly, awkwardly. It came out awkward because, well, he had not really expected to encounter anybody in this world. "Um... I'm Miles. Prower."

 

The girl continued shuffling, not looking up. "Hi Miles. I think I know why you're here. It's about Sonic, isn't it?"

 

The fur on his back stood up. "Yeah. That's right." Miles swallowed. "This is... this place is where the legend was supposed to take place, right? I just... I needed to see it. I didn't think anybody would be here. I just came because... because I need some answers."

 

Miles had gazed off a bit toward the palm jungles as he pieced his thoughts together. When he turned back toward the hedgehog, she had stopped shuffling. Now she was staring at him, giggling into her hand. "You sound so big and serious!" she exclaimed.

 

He did not know how to answer that. It was no matter, though, since the girl had instantly returned to her card shuffling. Either she had a remarkably short attention span, or there was something remarkably important about those cards. And her disproportionate focus reminded Miles of someone. A solitary person, living her life alone on this world. Living on this chunk of land, floating in the air. Hmm.

 

"So are you... the Guardian of this place?"

 

The hedgehog glanced up from her deck, confused. "Guardian of what?" She allowed her head to dart about briefly, as if there might be something worth guarding that she had not noticed before. Her hands kept at their work.

 

"This place. I mean, are you guarding this place because it has something to do with Sonic the Hedgehog?"

 

Without pausing, she bit her lip in thought. "Mmm... kinda. I'm just waiting for him to get back!"

 

Miles tilted his head. "So. So your people really do believe that Sonic was actually here, 5000 years ago?"

 

She laughed. "No! He was here just last summer!"

 

The planet rumbled, ever so slightly.

 

Last summer? Just under a year ago? Perhaps the girl was just being confusing on purpose. Though, Miles could not guess why she would be that way. Maybe it was a hedgehog thing. Maybe it was a part of the hedgehog culture, just like the echidnas had their own strange beliefs and practices. "So, you're watching this place because of Sonic the Hedgehog. And you think he's real. So, is he... is he your ancestor?"

 

"My what?" She kept her eyes on the cards this time, but a raised eyebrow showed that she was not following.

 

"Your ancestor. You know, like your... are you related to him?"

 

The shuffling cards stopped. The girl's eyes grew as wide as saucers. Then, in an instant, the shock on her face melted into a burst of laughter. "Ha ha ha ha ha!!" The pink hedgehog literally fell down, clutching her ribs. From the ground, she carried on in laughter.

 

"So you don't think he's your ancestor," Miles concluded. The girl was still laughing. Hard. After a moment, Miles cleared his throat. He repeated, more pointedly: "So. You don't think he's your ancestor."

 

"No!!" the girl managed to shriek gleefully, her laughter dying down. "No, no, no!" She was still lying on her back, shaking her head and sporting a wild grin. "We can't be related, silly! I'm gonna be his WIFE!"

 

. . .

 

Huh. That was something. "I'm sorry?"

 

"Well," the pink hedgehog bit her finger sheepishly, "He hasn't exactly given me the ring or anything yet, but we are gonna get married someday soon! We're perfect for each other!"

 

Miles was at a complete loss for words. Throughout his years, since he was barely older than a baby, he had heard every story written about the character named Sonic the Hedgehog. Yes, the people telling those stories had sometimes sounded awestruck, perhaps enchanted with this mythical figure. And of course, he had to admit to himself that he often grew more obsessed with this speedy blue hedgehog than he needed to be. But until now, he had never, never never never, heard of a girl who thought that she could be MARRIED to a fictional character.

 

But then again, how fictional was he? Wasn't that the reason he had come here--to find out?

 

The girl was back on her feet now, dealing out her cards into a giant pile on the table before her. "I'm eight too, you know."

 

"Huh? How did you know--"

 

"You showed up on eight," Amy smiled matter-of-factly. "Eight, in the Flicky song."

 

"Well... yeah. I did."

 

"But you sure don't sound eight."

 

"Yeah. Wait, huh?"

 

"Is it because of those things, Tailguy?" Amy gestured to the two tails that dragged behind Miles.

 

That annoyed him a little. "No, it's not. I've had two tails my whole life. In case you're wondering, I haven't always talked like this."

 

"Have you always been eight?"

 

"No, I--ugggh." 

 

The planet rumbled, ever so slightly.

 

"And I thought you weren't supposed to get two of 'em 'til a thousand years!"

 

This was impossible.

 

She had almost finished spreading the cards across the table, but her eyes kept falling back toward his twin tails, as if she wanted to complete her train of thought. "And that's how you found this place, isn't it? Sonic got here because he's super great, and I got here with my dowsing rod, and..."

 

"With your what? Did you say dowel rod?"

 

"...you must've got here 'cause those tails of yours have the dowsing shape, and they have your life energy, so they work like dowsing, so you could follow them to the Stones here! Is that how you did it, Tailguy?"

 

"What?"

 

"They help you find all kinds of gems too, don't they? 'Cause Sonic can do it all himself and find the worlds between worlds where gems hide, but the rest of us have to use--"

 

"STOP! JUST STOP! Please!" Miles sighed. "Look, girl..."

 

Her hands propped against her hips proudly. "My name's not Girl! It's Amy Rose!"

 

His eyes rolled without Miles even realizing it. "Pleased to meet you, Amy Rose, not Girl. But I didn't come here just to chatter back and forth with some other kid. I came here..." he heaved another sigh, turning his back on the hedgehog girl and facing the jungle. "I don't know. I just thought I'd be able to find some answers here."

 

The fox heard only silence behind him. When he looked back to the center of the clearing, Rose was standing defiantly behind the table, a smile on her face. On the table, all of the cards had been spread out, face down. She waved her hand over them, invitingly. "The answers are ready now, if you still want 'em."

 

Miles stepped back toward the table. "Look, I'm not sure you can help me. I fought this guy a few days ago, his name was Robotnik. But he acted like he was--"

 

"Not those answers! Answers about who YOU are." Rose tapped a few of the facedown cards with her gloved fingers, mocking impatience. "You gotta pick THREE CARDS!"

 

Obediently, Miles reached for one of the cards.

 

"You can't LOOK at 'em!" Rose shrieked suddenly. 

 

Miles recoiled in alarm, but his surprise dispersed with a sigh as soon as he registered the command. "I wasn't gonna!"

 

Rose nodded, satisfied. "Good. Now take three. It’s called tarot. And it's spelled like "ta-rot", but the "T" is silent! Okay, three cards!"

 

The planet rumbled, ever so slightly.

 

Warily, Miles took a card into his hand, followed by two more. In a rhythmic sweep, Rose seized the cards from his fingers and lay them on her table, face-down and well spaced from each other. With a flourish, she then proceeded to deal out nine more cards on the table randomly—three above each of the cards Miles had selected himself. "Three-and-one, three-and-one, three-and-one," she chanted softly to herself.

 

Rose inhaled for a beat. "Now. Let’s begin!" She moved to the four cards on Miles’s left, flipping over the top three that she had dealt out.

 

THE STORM

THE WITCH

THE WAR

 

"Hmm, this one looks scary!" Rose pointed to the middle card. All of the cards had illustrations of hedgehogs above their captions. THE WITCH was simple enough: a black, shadowy silhouette, showing the outline of an old woman hedgehog’s head, complete with a conical "witch" hat.

 

"It’s part of the Past, Miles," Rose entreated. "Do you remember?" The silhouette did seem familiar to Miles, in a sense. When he stared into it, it seemed as if… as if he could still hear the shrill laughter. And he could still see parts of it, too—he could still see his friends and neighbors, transforming into crystal before his very eyes. The laughter seemed to start fresh again, louder, each time it happened. And though the outline was clearly that of a hedgehog, Miles knew that she was actually of the same species as Dr. Robotnik. 

 

"Witchcart," he mumbled. Wendy Witchcart. The memory did not seem nearly so frightening or tragic, once he began to think about how everyone had returned to normal afterward. He never figured out why the crystallization spell had not worked on him.

 

Amy gestured to the last card. "And this was your best fight so far, wasn’t it?" she asked. THE WAR showed a picture of a ruined battlefield filled with armor-clad hedgehog warriors; some of them were still locked in struggle, while others had fallen. As Miles gazed at the image, those hedgehog warriors somehow reminded him of Battle Kukku soldiers and Flicky defenders. Yes. And as he thought about those times, he could still smell burned rope and gunpowder--a bomb’s fuse working its way down. He could still remember the rhythmic crunch of his hammer, colliding with the lightweight, avian skull beneath it. And the napalm. Thick smoke rising from the burning grass, grass that would not look quite the same when it grew back. His own singed fur, from when it had gone off closer than he meant it to. Burning feathers and flesh, from when it had gone off exactly when he meant it to. The birds' shrieks of pain, slowly dying down to silence. Miles almost threw up, as he had back then. When it was all over, he had dumped most of those weapons into the ocean. It made him sick just thinking about them, much less looking at them. He would always remember the stench.

 

But you also remember how the Chaos Emeralds felt at first touch, can you not? You remember how even the common rings felt, once you first learned to absorb them?

 

The voice in his head—Flicky—was comforting him. He nodded in acknowledgement. Somehow, once the Rings and the Chaos Emeralds were factored in, everything changed in perspective. Things didn’t seem as gritty, as dirty. As dark.

 

"Mmm-hmm," Rose voiced lightly, "I almost forgot about this first one. It was a long time ago, right?" Her finger brushed against THE STORM. This illustration did not have any hedgehog characters; it only showed a flooded landscape. Sheets of rain were crashing downward. A single, yellow lightning bolt struck at a diagonal, fiercely. And as Miles saw the rising water, as he saw the lightning, it was almost as if he could hear the roaring thunder. And beneath the thunder, he could hear their voices. Being so early in his life, it was a very frail memory, almost subconcious. He had been too young to remember much before it, or even much immediately after it, but critical memories had sometimes form islands of recognition in his mind. Early islands of memory. Falling down hard from one of his first flights, he had that memory. A certain person's face, looking into his eyes and laughing, trying to get him to laugh as well... he sort of had that memory. The rain, the lightning, hearing those familiar voices shouting something, hearing them one last time...

 

Miles struck the card off the table. "I need you to stop that. Whatever you're doing. Okay?" His face was turned to the ground, eyes shut tight.

 

Miles remained there with his eyes closed, part of him imagining that the darkness he saw could cover those memories he rarely cared to dwell on. After a moment of this, he heard Rose touch something on the table. He opened his eyes, and he saw that she had placed THE STORM back in its original place. She had also turned over the last card on his left, which was resting beneath the three that had just been revealed. It was the first card he had chosen himself.

 

THE JUGGLER

 

It was a very young, fair-faced hedgehog boy. Above him, multiple orbs seemed to be floating magically. Orbs, or maybe they were just ordinary balls? Regardless of what they were, it made a chaotic scene. Yet the boy’s almost-certain grin, the tongue sticking out of his mouth in deep concentration, showed that he had everything under control. In fact, it almost seemed as if he were manipulating some of the orbs himself.

 

Rose was smiling. "You got through it, huh?"

 

Miles blinked.

 

"But let's get to the Present now!" she squealed, in a voice that betrayed her obvious excitement. A quick hop set her at the center of the table now, standing over another set of three cards above one card. A swipe of her hand flipped over the top three cards almost simultaneously.

 

THE MACHINE

THE MACHINE

THE MACHINE

 

Miles tilted his head. "Are you dealing from the bottom of the deck?"

 

Rose bit her lip, her brow showing low-level signs of frustration. "That's so weird," she murmured. Then, her eyes brightened with a thought. "Hey! It's not so weird if you did something really important, three times in a row, really close together, and it was maybe just before you came here! Did something like that happen?"

 

"Umm... actually, yeah." Miles scratched the fur on the side of his temple. The illustration on every THE MACHINE card was exactly the same. A single, large grey cog, set on a black background. Yes, it was a cog, like the gear of a giant watch. When Miles looked at it the right way, though, the circular shape almost gave it the appearance of an oval, or maybe an egg. The black background also had a strange effect on the image, making it seem as though the circular contraption were suspended in the darkness of space.  "Yeah, I guess something like that did happen."

 

Rose smiled, pleased with herself.

 

"But that second one," Miles jabbed a finger on the middle card, eclipsing the gear picture beneath it, "that second one, it happened REALLY fast. Like, it should be all blue behind it instead of black, 'cause it wasn't even in space yet."

 

Rose's scowl was only half serious. "It's not a perfect picture, silly! Just, a perfect fortune!" After a gloatful dipping of her head, she turned over the last card of the Present, the one Miles had chosen.

 

THE CHAMPION

 

The hedgehog character in this picture stood stalwart, adorned in silver armor and wielding a magnificent shield and sword. Behind him in the image, there were a number of other hedgehogs with their arms raised in cheer. They were much smaller due to the perspective of the background, but something about the way they stood, made it seem that the cheering arms might have actually been propping up the hero in the foreground.

 

Her accuracy thus far is impressive, though it raises questions. For example, Miles, I do not believe most of these cards are authentic tarot.

 

Rose's left ear twitched. After a furtive glance to her left and then her right, she leaned toward Miles and held her hand sideways to her mouth, whispering: "Her fortune's always boring! It's like those three cards in a row you got, only it happens all the time, the same thing over and over!" She giggled.

 

Miles thought he heard a snort. He ignored it, choosing instead to divide his attention between Rose and the last four cards on his right. "And that means these are the Future?"

 

"You bet!" she exclaimed. "Future, Future, Future," she narrated, turning each card over in turn.

 

FORTITUDE

TEMPERANCE

JUSTICE

 

Without waiting, she then revealed the final card.

 

THE HERMIT

 

Miles studied the four cards. The first three had relatively generic scenes... a hedgehog woman restraining the jaw of some beast, an angel-like hedgehog pouring water into a chalice, a hedgehog queen on a throne with a sword... they all seemed very calm, very positive events.

 

The planet rumbled, ever so slightly.

 

The final card depicted a muscular hedgehog on one knee, holding the weight of an actual planet on his shoulders. From the three-and-one way Rose had set the cards up, it sort of looked like the character on the final card was holding the other three cards on his shoulder as well. Miles stared into the character's face. There was something very grave, yet very stoic about the line of his mouth. Something very enduring, and very resigned to the way things were.

 

No.

 

"No," Miles mumbled. "No, that's not," he shook his head. "That's not how it goes. That isn't how it's... it's not supposed to be that way."

 

He stuck his finger on the center of the table, tapping THE MACHINE cards that were still in place. "Look, it got finished right here."

 

"Are you okay?"

 

"It got finished RIGHT HERE. One, two, three, just like you said. And that too, over there." His fingers brushed back against the cards on his left--the Past cards--briefly. "And those were done, and these were done, and yeah it's okay if there are some more over here." He gestured again to the most recent four cards, the ones to his right. "There can be some more over there, sure..."

 

Miles.

 

"No, shut up. You shut up." The fox closed his eyes, clenching to avoid a floodgate of tears. "There can be some more like that, but they have to stop after a while." With a conscious effort, he managed to open his eyes without them spilling over. "And, after enough of those things being stopped, then you get these." He tapped the top three cards this time, the FORTITUDE, TEMPERANCE, and JUSTICE ones. "You get these, but it came from all the other stuff before it, right?"

 

"Hey, stop yelling!"

 

"I'm not yelling."

 

"You're talking fast with that voice like you're mad at me! It's just as bad as yelling!"

 

"I'm just saying that it came from all the other stuff before it, so you don't need this." He struck the final card, below the other three. He tried not to look at the character's face. "You don't need this one here."

 

Rose crossed her arms, and her eyes narrowed. "Just because you beat a bunch of bad guys doesn't mean you get to bully me around, Miles!"

 

"It's just that this last card isn't right, Rosy. That's all."

 

"Don't call me Rosy! And YOU'RE the wrong one!" Shifting from her right to left, Rose gestured to the table in front of her. "It doesn't matter if you don't like the cards, Miles! They don't tell you what to do! They only say the kinda stuff that you're gonna do anyway!" Now it was Rose who was gesturing to the Past and Present cards. "No one told you to beat this lady or these guys! And when the Eggman came, no one told you to go and beat him neither!"

 

"No, but someone had to do it!" Now Miles actually had started to raise his voice, matching Rose's volume.

 

"Don't you yell at me Miles don't you yell at me! I'm being nice to you, so you gotta be nice to me! You gotta be nice to me, Miles!"

 

Miles Prower. Do not dare disrespect this girl.

 

Until now, Miles had been concentrating on keeping his own tears from showing themselves. But now he caught a glimpse of Rose's face; and, it seemed to him that her scowl had been carved from stone. To all appearances it was pure rage, no nonsense. But the rest of her body, from her stiff shoulders to her clenched fists, was noticeably trembling. His first thought was that perhaps she was holding back tears herself; his second realization was that, in the midst of his tantrum, he really had hurt her feelings.

 

Miles sighed, craning his neck upward and gazing into the sky. He suddenly felt very tired. "Look, I--I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be mean to you."

 

"I don't even know why you're mad!" Rose jumped back in, "If you don't like any of this stuff, then why're you doing it?!"

 

"Why am I...?"

 

"No one made you fight that human lady, and no one made you fight that chicken..."

 

"Battle Kukku. It was an armada."

 

"...and no one made you fight the Eggman!"

 

His breathing was starting to slow down now, though the occasional chill still ran through his body. "I already told you that someone had to..."

 

Rose's gloved finger was bearing down on Miles. "Someone has to do something, and someone else has to do something else! But you were the one who did THIS!" She was shuffling the remainder of her deck again, her eyes upon each card as if it were a document. "You're running fast, spinning in a ball, and breaking the bad machines. And it's not my cards that's makin' you do it, Miles!"

 

. . .

 

"I just wanted to be like Sonic, to do what he did in the stories."

 

Rose threw her arms out, taken aback. "So what's wrong with that?!"

 

Miles looked downward, shaking his head. "I didn't think I'd have to do it forever. I didn't think I'd have to be like THAT guy." His eyes fell again on that card of the hedgehog who was holding up a world.

 

Rose tilted her head in confusion, as if Miles had been speaking a foreign language. "But isn't that the really cool part?! When your life's over, you can look back on it, and you can say: 'I did it all by myself!' That's the good part."

 

"No, it's not." Miles exhaled with a fake laugh. "I've changed a lot since I started trying to be like Sonic. It's not about doing stuff myself. I've been doing that most of my life. That's not the kinda stuff that really matters, Rosy."

 

"Hey, I told you! Don't call me Rosy like I'm a little kid!"

 

Miles really hadn't meant to do that. "Sorry, Amy. It was an accident."

 

Rose raised her snout disdainfully. "I'm not a little kid anymore. Amy is my real name. Rosy is a little kid's name. If you keep calling me names, I'm not gonna finish the fortune!"

 

Miles was not trying to hit a nerve, but apparently he had. He chuckled, still sniffing a little from his near-cry a moment ago. "Well you know what? Being a little kid, it's not that bad. So don't grow up too fast. Okay?" He laughed softly again, shaking his head. Rose had just threatened to withold the rest of the fortune. If there was anything still left, that is. "Heh. I didn't even come here for my fortune."

 

"Oh?" Rose's arms were still crossed. In fact, she still looked cross herself. Yet she continued, "What DID you come here for?"

 

Miles wiped away a rogue tear that had dropped into his fur a moment earlier. But when he heard the question, he laughed again. "I told you. I came to get answers. About that fat guy I faced. He called himself Eggman."

 

Rose's smirk seemed dubious. "You really want me to tell you about that stinky Eggman?"

 

Miles shrugged. "I just... he seemed to take himself so seriously, like the Legend was true and he was a part of it. And you act that way too. And there're these Flicky birds. And I just wanna find out if the guy was just a nutcase or if he was really a real Eggman, because..."

 

"Because...?" Amy gestured her hands in a waving motion, prodding Miles. "Because what you REALLY wanna know about is..."

 

"Sonic."

 

At breakneck speed, Rose scooped her arms from the sides of the table inward, shifting every card into a single stack within the center--every card except one of the cards from Miles's Past section. She then placed three new cards, facedown, on the table: one to the right of the stack, one on top of the stack, and one to the left of the stack. She turned all three faceup.

 

THE LEGEND

THE TRAVELER

THE CONFRONTATION

 

Miles's ears perked upward in curiosity. "What's this? The rest of my fortune?"

 

"Sonic."

 

"Sonic?"

 

Rose's voice was crisp, authoritative, and it carried the slightest hint of you're-not-so-smart. "You wanted answers about Sonic? Well, they're right here!"

 

THE LEGEND showed another generic hero hedgehog, this time with armor that looked somehow more ancient. THE TRAVELER showed a hedgehog character walking down a trail, carrying a stick and toting some sort of backpack. This card was on top of the stack Rose had made out of Miles's fortune cards from before. THE CONFRONTATION 

showed two warriors, preparing to engage each other in combat. The fiery scenery behind the warriors gave the scene a final, apocalyptic feel.

 

"You know about time travel?" she asked flatly.

 

"Uhh..." How could he answer that kind of question?

 

Rose pointed to THE LEGEND and said, "5000 years ago, Sonic came to the Miracle Planet and saved the animals." She pointed to the stack of cards holding THE TRAVELER and said, "Just a little while ago, Sonic ran through again." She pointed to THE CONFRONTATION and said, "In 5000 years, he's gonna come back and beat the Eggman." Placing her hands on her hips, Rose seemed to heave her entire body in a nod of finality. "Past. Present. Future."

 

. . .

 

Miles tried to understand what was being said. "So. So Sonic really was here already? That wasn't just, like a metaphor?"

 

Rose bobbed her head up and down, her grin widening. "He even held me in his arms, before he ran off with sparks, into the future! Glittery sparks!" Rose spun on the tip of her toe, a new bounce in her voice as she recounted the event. Posed with hands palm-down beneath her chin, she blinked repeatedly, eyelashes fluttering.

 

The fox turned toward the palms surrounding the clearing. He still needed a moment. "Today?"

 

The girl laughed. "I already told you, silly! Not today. Last summer!"

 

. . .

 

"Hey, Rosy?"

 

"That's not my name, TAILGUY!"

 

"Amy! I mean Amy, sorry. But Amy, that fat guy. If he was Eggman, then that means that while Sonic's running into the future... Eggman stayed behind or something?"

 

Rose nodded, hopeful that Miles was starting to understand. "Sonic ran to the Future, but Eggman stayed here! But it's funny, 'cause he just came back a little bit before you did..."

 

He stayed behind, Miles. As Sonic traveled forward into the unknown Future, the Eggman saw that he could remain in the Present instead of following. He believed that he could rule the world uncontested. And by the time five thousand years had passed, and Sonic returned back to the timeline...

 

"...it would be too late." Miles really was beginning to understand now. "But that's not what happened."

 

Because of you, Miles.

 

He turned back toward Rose. "But you said he came back here? Just ahead of me?"

 

"Mmm-hmm," Rose bobbed her head affirmingly. "He came back here, flew past me without seein', and zoomed right into the Future." She scratched her head. "He was yelling about something. But he yells all the time!"

 

You stalled the Eggman's progression here, Miles. He has fled forward, to take his chances against Sonic again.

 

If that was true, then Miles felt it was a monumentally stupid decision to make on the Eggman's part. Would the doctor really have an easier time in the future, against... well, against the Legend himself? How did that even make sense?

 

Do not underestimate your own talents, young Miles. After being so soundly defeated by you three times in succession, the Eggman felt it best to find a new course, to face the hero who has only bested him once thus far.

 

Miles froze. "Huh? So you can read my thoughts in there, too?"

 

Rose was hopping in place, trying to get the fox's attention. "And he had to go into the Future! He has to finish the fight with Sonic!" Again, she pointed to THE CONFRONTATION, to Miles's right. "It's time travel, Miles. It's because of the Miracle Planet! Look, I showed you your fortune here, right? And I showed you Sonic's fortune that we know about here. But that's just the part of Sonic's fortune! It's only the part that we can SEE! Look it."

 

At the moment, the Past side of the table only held Sonic's card for THE LEGEND and one of Miles's cards. The Present part of the table had almost all of Miles's cards stacked up, with Sonic's card for THE TRAVELER on top. The Future side of the table had only Sonic's card for THE CONFRONTATION.

 

"This is the part that we see, you and me, right now. But it's not how it really is! It's not how SONIC sees it!" With that declaration, she swept up THE LEGEND and THE CONFRONTATION, 

placing them within the huge stack in the middle, the stack that was topped by THE TRAVELER.  She then placed a new card on Miles's left.

 

GENESIS

 

Amy explained, "This is Sonic's real Past." The card showed a young hedgehog, standing in the midst of hills. The entire scene was natural, filled with unspoiled greenery. It invoked feelings of beginning, of promise for the future. Rose had said the card was Sonic's true past, but something about it seemed like the origin of the world entire. She flipped a new card, this time on Miles's right.

 

THE HERO

 

Amy explained again, "Sonic's real Future." The hedgehog in this image was remarkably similar to the one in that CHAMPION card that Miles had picked earlier (the one currently buried somewhere beneath Sonic's THE TRAVELER). However, instead of having armor, shield, and spear, this hedgehog 

character was shown unarmed and unadorned. Also, THE CHAMPION had given the appearance that cheering bystanders were somehow holding up the card's character. There were still cheering hedgehogs on THE HERO card, but on this one... well, it was difficult to tell if the card's character even knew they were there.

 

Miles stared at THE HERO admiringly. "It's almost like an accident, isn't it?" He looked up toward Amy, losing track of his smile. "It's like... like a waterfall or something, just going through. And when it goes through, everything's better because of it."

 

Rose giggled into her hand.

 

That was Sonic the Hedgehog. And a part of Miles had always wanted to be like that. It had not quite worked out that way, but who could say whether that was a bad thing?

 

GENESIS. THE TRAVELER. THE HERO.

 

"Hey. How come Sonic's fortune only has a few cards for the Past and the Future? And also... if all of my fortune is underneath that TRAVELER card," Miles asked, "then what's it gonna look like when the TRAVELER part is done?" There was still one card from Miles's Past on the table, but the rest had become a part of Sonic's time travel stack. "Do I have a new Past and Future too?"

 

Rose wrinkled her brow. "It's kinda complicated. Did you wanna know more about Sonic's real fortune, or did you wanna know more about your real fortune?"

 

"Well, I..."

 

"'Cause it's kinda hard to do it, with one or the other."

 

That did not seem to make sense. "What do you mean?" Miles asked, raising his own eyebrow.

 

Rose straightened, as if a lightbulb had just gone off above her head. "Hey, I know! I'll do it like this!" 

With the flick of her wrists, a stream of cards flooded into the Past and Future sections of the table. They stacked on one another so quickly that it was impossible for Miles to see all of them. Naturally, his eyes shifted to the Future half of the table.

 

THE ADVENTURE

CHAOS

THE CHARIOT

DOPPELGANGER

THE ARK

LUNA

 

The cards kept coming. What was Rose doing? Maybe some of them were Sonic's and some of them were his?

 

TRIUMVIRATE

DOOM

THE PARADOX

FORTY THIEVES

THE INNER BEAST

THE BLACKSMITH

WILL-O'-THE-WISP

SIX OF CUPS

THE PHANTOM

FORTITUDE

TEMPERANCE

JUSTICE

THE BOND

 

That was the last one on the stack. 

 

The picture did not have any hedgehogs in it, showing instead two links of a chain, set together. At least, Miles assumed it was two links of a chain--the drawing was very stylistic. When he studied the circles more closely, it was difficult to tell where one link ended and the other began. It was almost as if they were actually just a single piece bound around itself, like an elaborate mobius strip. When he looked back up at Rose, he saw that she had been staring at him.

 

"I can't tell you just your fortune, or just his fortune," she smiled, "without telling you both of them. Your life and his, they're stuck together. He's the right arm, and you're the left."

 

Miles was in shock. His throat was parched. "So--so this happens? This happens when Sonic comes back?"

 

Rose bit her lip.

 

"Oh, but he can't come back, right? Because he's going to the Future, and we're going to the Future too..."

 

"...except we're going a lot slower!" she finished.

 

Miles had pieced it all together now. "So he is going to come back to our time. But when he does, then everything's gonna start over after that? Right? I mean, if he comes back to the same time he left, and stays with us from there?"

 

She nodded, "Then everything after that will be changed! It'll all be different, only with Sonic here!"

 

"So this conversation we're having won't exist anymore."

 

"Nope!"

 

"And... when I beat Eggman three times? And Witchcart, and the Kukku?"

 

"Did you do all that after last summer?"

 

"Well, yeah." Miles's eighth year of life had been an incredibly dangerous one.

 

"Then nope, it's gone too!" Rose sounded pleased and pleasant.

 

The planet rumbled, ever so slightly. Then it rumbled again. Louder.

 

Miles considered crumbling to the ground. He shook his head in wonder. "So it's all going to disappear? Everything I did?" His eyes raised back toward Rose, imploringly. "Then why does any of it matter? Any of the stuff you do or I do, why should we even care, if it's just all going to go away!"

 

"No, it's not like that!" Rose shook her head. "Don't you remember? Sonic's gonna come back!!"

 

"Well yeah, in 5000 years!"

 

And when he does return, Miles, he will find a world that has not been enslaved by the Eggman or his descendants. There, already, is a difference your actions have made. There, already, is an evident purpose.

 

Miles gazed through the palm branches above him, toward the blue sky. He stepped away from Rose and the tarot table, taking steps to the border area between the clearing and the jungle. He laughed, just a little. He laughed again. "Sonic. So it... it really IS all about Sonic, isn't it?"

 

Rose was beaming. As she was about to say something in confirmation, though, the planet rumbled fiercely beneath her.

 

The chain, Miles. You have your answers.

 

"Right!" Miles answered. After so much conversation, so much trauma and exhausting revelation, it almost felt nice to shift his body and senses back to crisis mode.

 

Rose was confused. "What's she talking about?"

 

It was strange that Flicky somehow had the power to communicate with Miles inside his mind. But it was beyond bizarre, that Rose seemed to somehow be able to eavesdrop. Miles pointed from the direction he came, into the distance beyond the Little Planet. "Eggman must've done some stuff to this place when he first got here, and it's messing things up now. The Little Planet's supposed to only show up once a year. But there's a chain holding it to the rest of the world, so we gotta get rid of it. And since Robotni--I mean Eggman--since Eggman was here, he probably left behind some..." Miles scanned the area around them. Sure enough, near the border of the clearing, Miles spotted a machine that looked like a giant ant mixed with a unicycle. A badnik. "We gotta pop those things open too, so we can free the animals."

 

Miles heard a stomp upon the dirt. When he turned back, Rose was crossing her arms defiantly. Since he had walked away from the table, she was now a fair distance from him. "We're not doing that, Miles!"

 

"What?"

 

"Sonic's gonna come back here in the Future. He's gonna come back right here! And when he does, everything has to be just the way it was when he left!"

 

Miles coughed. "Are you insane? The Little Planet's already been chained up too long! If it stays this way, it could tear apart! Then what's Sonic gonna do?!"

 

"He's gonna... hmm..." Rose looked as if she had not thought of that.

 

"Look, Amy," Miles pleaded, "Sonic went to the Past already, right?"

 

"Right."

 

"So when he came out, the Little Planet wasn't chained anymore, was it?"

 

As Rose considered this, the ground rumbled once again, much more fiercely than before. Miles and Rose worked to keep their balance. But the young hedgehog hadn't stopped considering Miles's question.

 

Her eyes widened in amazement. "No! It wasn't chained!"

 

Miles smiled. "So it won't hurt Sonic if we break the chain now and stop the Little Planet from being destroyed. Right?"

 

"Right!"

 

"Right, okay. So first we pop all these badniks open. Then, we find where the chain's attached to." Schemes and strategies were already formulating in the fox's head.

 

But Rose shrieked, "Not the robots! The robots have to stay the way they are!"

 

This girl was insane. "Why?!!" Miles shouted his question over a new set of rumblings, which did not seem to be dying down this time.

 

Rose shouted back, "Because they're not for us to break! They're for Sonic!"

 

The rumbling was getting louder.

 

Miles yelled, "But there's living animals in there, Amy! We can't let them stay badniks for thousands of years!"

 

"It's okay Miles, don't worry! They're not even animals! They're plants! So it doesn't matter!"

 

Miles could not quite explain why he was so angry with Rose, after that remark. He did not think there was any reason he should be offended or enraged... but for some reason he was. Yet there was no time to dwell on that. 

"Plants are living things too, Amy!" he shouted once more. The rumbling was getting louder.

 

"No!" Rose protested. "We can break the chain, but we can't change the robots! They have to stay just the way they were when Sonic left!"

 

One of the badniks was not far from Rose's left now, rolling around on its unicycle body idly. There was no time to waste on arguing with this little girl. "Look, Amy! I'm supposed to keep things right around here until Sonic gets back! I know you don't like it, but it's gotta be done. I'm sorry!" With that, he began trotting toward the badnik. An easy spin attack would break the badnik open, bouncing Miles further away from the clearing so that...

 

What was Rose doing? In his peripheral vision, Miles saw that the young hedgehog's own eyes had grown to saucer size again. She was staring at something other than Miles. Rose's mouth had shifted into a decidedly "o" shape, a shape that was now expanding into a gaping jaw, which would 

undoubtedly be screaming soon. Seemingly in slow motion, Miles saw Rose raise her hand, clearly about to point at something Miles did not see. She moved her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. She was apparently stunned with fear, too terrified to shout a warning.

 

But Miles did not need a shouted warning. Seeing her face was enough. Miles leapt to his left side, hoping to avoid any shot or swipe that might have been aimed at where he was standing. Then he spun to face the new threat, to see what danger Rose had spotted behind him...

 

...and he saw nothing. Nothing was there.

 

CLANK! From the other side of the jungle, Miles heard the sound of metal being crushed. Then he felt the ground bump beneath him, once more, as the rumblings stopped. The clouds in the sky seemed to be getting closer.

 

"She? The chain?" he mumbled softly. So Rose had known where the chain was all along. But how had she moved to it so quickly? And how had she managed to break those iron bonds, apparently in a single stroke? "AMY!" Miles screamed, running to where he thought the sound of the impact had come from. "AMY! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

 

He found her, standing proudly over what had been the connection between this world and the one Miles and Rose came from. She seemed surprised to see him. "Miles?! You've gotta go now! Miracle Planet's going back!"

 

Miles leapt to the air in a somersault, then unrolled his body. His twin tails caught a gust of wind and began spinning, lifting the rest of him into the air. "Jump and grab my hand, Amy!" he screamed, offering it to her. "I can get us out of here!"

 

Amy shook her head, laughing above the sounds of the Planet shifting beneath them. "You gotta go by yourself, silly goose!" she answered. "I've gotta wait for Sonic!"

 

What did she say? "Amy, come on! You told me yourself that Sonic's not coming back, not for us! He's not coming back for 5000 years! We'll be DEAD by then! C'mon, and we'll watch the world for when he gets back! We'll stop the bad guys together! And, and... and we'll train other people, we'll train kids to keep the world safe for Sonic after we're gone! You'll train the girls and I'll train the boys! And then they'll train other kids later on..."

 

"That's YOUR fortune, Miles!" Amy smiled lovingly from her spot near the shattered chain, the fierce winds of a rising Planet streaming past her. "I promised Sonic that I'm gonna wait forever for him, so that's what's happening!"

 

You are running out of time now, Miles.

 

"Amy! Please, Amy! We can wait for Sonic together!" As the wind grew stronger, Miles's tails spun furiously to keep him aloft and steady. Rain began to fall now, merging with the tears that returned to Miles's eyes. "It's just that, if Knuckles is on his island, and you're on this place, and..." He 

could hardly see anything in the growing rainfall, but both of his arms were still outstretched, desperate. "Amy! I... I just don't wanna do this alone anymore! I CAN'T do this alone! I CAN'T!"

 

A hand grabbed his arm.

 

Miles stammered, cutting his pleadings short. "Amy?" Another hand grabbed his other arm. Miles squinted through the rain to see her. And there she was.

 

Every bit of Rose's face was urgent. Her hands tightened over Miles's arms, and she shook him. She shook him with all of her strength. "NO ONE'S ALONE!" she screamed. "NO ONE'S ALONE! YOU HEAR ME MILES PROWER?!! NO! ONE'S! ALONE!"

 

For a moment they remained there, suspended in the air. She stared Miles down. He tried to hold back his sobbing again, to meet her gaze. Reluctantly, he met it with a series of nods.

 

She let go, leaping to the Planet beneath her.

 

And then they were gone.

 

[tailsBOOM!]

They're really good! You need to continue this like seriously!